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May 31, 2007

"next weekend is the prairie band potawatomi pow wow. i am definitely
going to attend. i dont miss our pow wow. it is always fun. i like to
visit with people. i shake more hands than a politician.

it is too bad that it doesnt occur after we get our per cap. i bet
more of our people would attend if they had some coin in their pocket.
i mentioned this once, and somebody got all defensive over it. he said
if we wait a week it rains. i was under the impression that you cant
predict rain. at least we cant. we have been wet a few times. at any
rate it would be nice if more prairie band would attend their own pow
wow. maybe if we made a sacrifice......

i will put up a camp like i do every year. i like to have a place to
sit in the shade when it gets boring. usually i have a pot of cowboy
coffee going constantly. camping is fun, though not many around here do
it. too close to a comfortable bed i guess. cooking over a fire sure
tastes good. i like to have breakfast everyday of the pow wow. and have
a pot of soup on too. we get alot of visitors to come to our campsite.
coffee and food draws them. and visiting. drop in, if you are in the
area.

seems our pow wow just keeps getting bigger. as far as pow wows go,
it aint a bad one. but then, i think most pow wows are good. i heard
someone liken pow wows to sex. when its good, its good. when its not so
good, its still good. hmmm.....interesting analogy. but i get the
point. we manage to get some good singing groups to come here. and our
home boys are very good too. we get plenty of good dancers that are fun
to watch.

no doubt we will have a good time. thats the way it is suppose to
be. i dont care for pow wows where people just sit in their own chairs
and stare at one another. it should be an interactive thing. its fun to
meet people and talk. probably the way indians have always done it.
hope the weather holds up. good music, good dance,plenty of visiting,
good food....what more can you ask for."

The Chairperson and Council decided not to correct the information that was printed in the local newspaper about sovereign rights because it was a political ploy to stop U.S. Rep. Hastert from interfering in our business. Guess what? It worked! Chairperson Stanhoff emphasized at the meeting that the sovereign rights statement in the newspaper was a mis-quote. If you had been at the meeting you would have not used this as a reason to begin the recall. Be at the Council Meetings and read the minutes before you "go off making unfounded statements", as you like to accuse me of doing.

Your idea that "Those Bingo Employees that lost their jobs when the Bingo was shut down. Did most of those members sign that first petition to recall Tracy Stanhoff? Could this be a mass reprisal for them signing the petition?" is once again a lie. The FACTS are that the Gaming Commission is the agency that shut down the Bingo Hall, because it was losing $10,000 dollars a month. The Chairperson has nothing to do with the Gaming Commission. The Gaming Commission will re-evaluate re-opening the Bingo Hall after the transition is complete. AGAIN, all these facts are available in the General Council Meeting minutes, which any enrolled member of the tribe has access to.

You reference Joyce Guerrero as another "act of reprisal" however that has already been proven to be another lie. Joyce's predicament is the doing of her own sister who is in charge of Enrollment, this is a family feud that began years ago, long before Chairperson Stanhoff arrived.

In your response to my article,"You say 300 people can't represent the tribe. It's Tribal Constitutional law." Yes, however 300 people will not WIN the recall election and many of those 300 people were tricked into signing the petition.Besides, now that we know your reasons for the recall, it seems you sold this recall to these 300 people on lies.

You said, not me, that the Newspaper was involved in a conspiracy, here are your own words, "...our tribal newspaper should be out from under the scrutiny of the Tribal Council and be allowed to print the truth in government and our tribal leaders dealings" to readers this suggests that you think the newspaper is working with the Tribal Council to mis-lead the people, and you are still accusing the paper of this when in own your own words you say, "The Tribal Newspaper (if it were free press) would be a vital element to a true democracy of this tribe," You are the one attacking the newspaper, saying it is not free press, these are your own words, George.

You say, "Main thing is...the tribe is not a business corporation, and we aren't to be treated as stockholders in a company." Yes, the tribe is a business corporation in one sense because we are running businesses and as tribal members we should be treated as stockholders, that's a good thing. This is only common sense, George.

I have "a grip" and many of our tribal members do now too, because we have uncovered the lies that are the basis of this recall. We know that the Truth will continue to be revealed and by stopping you we will protect our tribe for future generations.

Chairperson Stanhoff is our Idol because she has proven herself to be a strong leader and will never give up."

An old Potawatomi Indian man ordered one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink at the Buffalo Grill. Then he unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles, and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife.

He took a sip of the drink. His wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them kept looking over and whispering. You could tell they were thinking, "That poor old Indian couple. All they can afford is one meal for the two of them."

As the man began to eat his fries, a young man, with his percap burning a hole in his pocket, came to the table. He politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old Indian man said they were just fine--they were used to sharing everything.

Other people noticed the little old Potawatomi lady hadn't eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.

Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them. This time the old Potawatomi woman said, "No, thank you, we are used to sharing everything."

As the old Potawatomi man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin, the young man again came over to the little old Indian lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food. He asked, "What is it you are waiting for?"

My Ally, Fire Witch Rising, wants us to help "Send a Feminist Blogger to the Allied Media Conference." Fire Witch Rising says "You will be helping to support ground breaking and necessary feminist
action–ending violence against women of color and their communities in
all it’s manifestations through the use of media technology."

May 29, 2007

"i have been asked to go speak in michigan at the end of july. an old
friend runs a program that deals with tradition as part of its
teaching. he asked me to talk about some of the knowledge that i have
picked up over the years. i agreed to. the program will pay my expenses
and give me a stipend. that is big time for me, since i normally only
speak at ceremonies for nothing.

i only hope that it turns out better than my last speaking gig. it
is an amusing story. while a student at a local university, i was
asked to speak by the sponsor of minority affairs. i thought hell yeah,
i can speak in front of a group and still be slightly entertaining. so
posters were printed up and plastered around campus. while i headed to
the student union to have my coffee i would see the signs. it
advertised "the native american perspective" by eddie joe. the students
at that school lived in a pretty insulated world and needed their
horizons broadened.

the big day came and i showed up to speak. the sponsor was there
waiting for me. the large room was empty. he said lets wait awhile,
students are probably getting out of class. so we waited. and then
waited some more. no one showed up. the sponsor finally got it that no
one would show. so he said 'well thats it, nobody is coming'. no one
will ever know the amusing anecdotes i had prepared. on my way out i
grabbed one of the posters. it still hangs on my basement wall twenty
years later. it is to remind me of that day.

it is like the proverbial 'if a tree falls in the forest, and there
is no one to hear it will it make a sound'. if you have something to
say and no one hears it, have you said anything. i always remember that
day. so now whenever i have to speak, i make it a point to make a
point. and when i listen to others, i ask myself what is their point.
if they havent made one, then they said nothing.

i doubt that i go on to be a famous speaker. but i dont care. i am
only interested in speaking to people that want to hear what i have to
say."

May 27, 2007

Our family received a letter dated May 23, 2007 from the enrollment department of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, signed by Arlene Lingo.

It is a Notice of Intent to Dis-Enroll my grandson Aaron Michael.The letter goes on to state reasons: briefly they are that years ago when Aaron’s application was processed there was a miscalculation made by the Enrollment department and the Enrollment Committee and Tribal Council at that time. All three entities failed to catch this error if that is the case.

My Mother Agnes Wabski Kitchkommie was correctly the 4/4 full blood. Apparently my Father Joseph A. Kitchkommie came up “erroneously” the letter says.

I question the timing of this action. The fact that this letter comes at a time of this recall petition process I have to wonder who is targeting my family. I will not state if I have or have not signed the petition. I have however; as a Gaming Commissioner been put in the position of having to confront Tracy Stanhoff more than once on her lack of following protocol in the area of regulations. It is no secret as this was done in front of other Commissioners and Council members and that I have been vocal with questions in meetings to her regarding the IL project.

We have been given a date of hearing on this matter of June 4th, 2007 in front of Tribal Council to decide. I have no reassurance that the entire tribal council will decide on the fate of my grandson’s enrollment. We all know that one person now on that council overpowers the weaker ones.

My family will live with the decision of that hearing and persevere. Aaron has been for 12 years a Prairie Band Potawatomi tribal member. He asks does this mean he cannot say that he is Prairie Band Potawatomi anymore? He does not understand at his age the political ramifications and mean spirited actions that children can get caught in the middle of. I wanted to share this experience because I think this is not a good sign for our future of our tribal members.

Can an outside group go to someone and point a finger at your family and start dis-enrollment procedures? Or one individual? You will always find angry, disgruntled, unhappy people willing to participate in these causes. I welcome this hearing to be heard and share my original paperwork, if for no other reason than to prove that there was no intent to deceive or falseness committed on our behalf and I want that to be a part of that hearing that day. Is council prepared to have more hearings?

It could be your family next. Thank you so much for having this venue to get out information.